Known as the Phantom Stage, hidden at the rear of this stage are the original sets for the Paris Opera house, as built for The Phantom of the Opera in 1925. Parts of the auditorium set still survive, making them the oldest surviving movie sets in the world. The Phantom stage is also unique in that no other soundstage in Hollywood history has been named after a single film. This stage is the oldest on the Universal lot.

With construction beginning in July 1924, the stage was the first to be constructed from steel and concrete. Originally, stages were raised platforms in the open-air - this was necessary to get maximum light onto the sets (from the Californian sunshine).Wood and glass constructions were then built (from around 1916) to protect increasingly sophisticated sets, props and equipment from rain, but these proved difficult to work in under the hot sun. Large enclosed stages began to appear in the early 1920s.
The elaborate auditorium interior shown in the photo gallery was kept intact on Stage 28 for many years after 1925. As a full opera stage was built for the film, it was used as a theatre or opera house set for a number of films. The large open stage area was also used for many films without any reference to the fact that it's part of a theatre.
Currently, the opera boxes are all that remain of the full set and these are believed to be listed on the National Historic Registry, so cannot be removed or altered.

Hauntings
A caped figure has been seen running around the catwalks above the stage - could this be Lon Chaney repeating his most famous role even after death in 1930? Other reported phenomena include lights turning on and off and doors opening and shutting. An electrician reportedly fell to his death from a catwalk in 1925.

More details

• Stage 28 Photo Gallery
• Productions shot on Stage 28
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Lon Chaney and Stage 28
• Jurassic Park 3